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Saturday, March 16, 2013

If you're not against using canned soup, this Baked Sour Cream Chicken is easy, kid-friendly, and delicious.

(Updated March 2013 with better photos and step-by-step instructions.) Right now I'm completely overwhelmed by the mess of moving to the new house, and feeling thankful that I have The World's Greatest Family, who are generously helping me pull off this enormous move. (Thanks everyone, and I love you all!) Needless to say, thinking up new recipe ideas is on the back burner for the next couple of weeks. Luckily I planned ahead over the last month and took updated photos of some past recipes to share while I'm busy moving. This Baked Sour Cream Chicken is one of those recipes from the very first days of the blog, and although I rarely cook with canned soup now, the recipe does have some fans and it's quite delicious for a quick dinner. (I've included the link for a make your own chicken soup replacement if you prefer not to use the canned soup, although the replacement recipe has flour and butter, so it may not be very diet-friendly.)

I first made Baked Sour Cream Chicken for the blog when my friend Susan came with her daughter Sophia for a "cooking lesson," and here's how Sophia looked at the age of four!

She's now a lovely young woman, and still plays the violin beautifully. And I bet she'd still like this Baked Sour Cream Chicken, although now she has much more sophisticated tastes. Sophia is now so grown-up she could almost make this by herself, maybe with mom cutting up the chicken.

Trim the chicken breasts and cut them into thirds lengthwise.

Lay the chicken into a casserole dish that you've sprayed with olive oil or non-stick spray and season with salt and fresh ground black pepper to taste.

After 25 minutes, use a fork to separate the chicken breasts so the sauce mixture will run down. Cover with foil again and bake 20 minutes more.

The remove the foil and sprinkle over the other 1/2 cup of grated cheese. Bake 15-20 minutes more, until the cheese is melted. (If you get impatient you can put it under the broiler like we did, but watch it carefully! My broiler is so powerful that it's easy to get it too dark.)

And just for laughs, here's the original photo of this dish when I cooked it with Sophia. Her mom Susan and my friend Robin joined us back in 2005 for this dinner of chicken, asparagus, and rice.

Baked Sour Cream Chicken
(Makes about 8 servings; recipe adapted years and years ago from a neighborhood cookbook that I no longer have and didn't write down the name. )

Preheat oven to 350F/175C. Trim all visible fat and unwanted parts from chicken breasts, then cut each piece in thirds diagonally.

Spray 9 x 12 inch glass or crockery casserole dish with nonstick spray and arrange chicken pieces in a single layer. Season chicken with salt and fresh ground black pepper to taste.

Combine the cream of chicken soup, light sour cream, light mayo, onion powder, poultry seasoning, lemon juice, and 1 cup of grated low fat cheese to make the sauce. Spread sauce mixture over the chicken, cover the pan with foil or a tight-fitting lid, and bake 25 minutes. After 25 minutes, use a fork to separate the chicken pieces so the sauce runs down between the, cover again, and bake for about 20 minutes more.

Then remove the foil, top with 1/2 cup reserved cheese and bake 15-20 minutes more, until cheese is melted and top is slightly browned. (You can use the broiler if you want to speed it up a little, but watch it carefully!)

We ate this with brown rice and asparagus, which was a good combination for the rich chicken and sauce.

I rarely cook with canned soup any more, but I confess that when I was first starting out on the South Beach Diet I did eat this type of dish occasionally, and it didn't seem to impact my weight loss too much. The soup has about 22 carbs in a can (so divided into 8 servings it's not too bad) but even with low-fat ingredients this recipe is still fairly high in saturated fat, so I'd advise considering this a "once-in-a-while treat" or limiting it to Phase 2 or 3 if you're actively trying to lose weight. If you're using my suggestion for make your own chicken soup replacement, that will make the recipe a lot less diet-friendly. Definitely I'd eat this with a green salad and something simple like Roasted Broccoli with Garlic or Roasted Asparagus with Garlic to balance out the meal.

Nutritional Information? I chose the South Beach Diet to manage my weight partly so I wouldn't have to count calories, carbs, points, or fat grams, but if you want nutritional information for a recipe, I recommend entering the recipe into Calorie Count, which will calculate it for you.

Posts may include links to my affiliate account at Amazon.com, and Kalyn's Kitchen earns a few cents on the dollar if readers purchase the items I recommend, so thanks for supporting my blog when you shop at Amazon!

Posts may include links to my affiliate account at Amazon.com, and this blog earns a few cents on the dollar if readers purchase the items I recommend, so thanks for supporting my blog when you shop at Amazon!

22 comments:

Kalyn, I love cooking with kids and really miss the opportunity now that my girls are grown.

Occasionally I invite my niece over and we make some cookies or muffins. It's so exciting to see their expressions as they break the eggs - oops was that supposed to be IN the bowl? and the pride they show when offering the finished products to be tasted.

Sophie is one wise-looking girl. And as an ex-violin player, I'm really impressed with the fact at only four she's volunteering her fiddle skills. Teaching kids is great--and with that interest already there, it must be a lot of fun. Sour cream chicken sounds so good!

It's fun to see how our tastes change over the years. I used to eat dishes like this much more often than I do now, but it's still a comfort food treat to enjoy once in a while. And hurray for your fabulous family and all the help you're getting during this move!

I like the old picture. :-) Also, I'd like you to know that I really appreciate your blog that has a printable version of a recipe. I'm not sure how much more work this is for you but if a blog does not have a printable version of a recipe I do not use it. So, thank you!!

Becca, glad you like the printer-friendly versions. It's a little more work, but not much now that I have it set up. And I use the printer-friendly versions myself all the time, so I know what you mean.

Thanks for joining the conversation! I love hearing from readers and even though I can't always reply to every comment, I will always answer specific questions on a recipe as soon as possible. Sometimes I'm answering by iPhone, so my replies may be short!

Comments don't appear on the blog until they're approved by me, so no need to try again if you don't see it when you post the comment! Please make your signature a link to your site if you're a blogger, but other links posted within the body of the comment will never be published.

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